Free Republic

For months, we've listened to the rising terror in the voices of the antiwar left, as decent, principled Americans of the political middle got down to business and prepared for taking harsh measures to do the right thing, the smart thing. No longer willing to accept the status quo of meek acceptance of tinhorn bullying, mainline Republicans and not a few Democrats agreed that something needed to happen in order to assure that the civilization most emulated by Western style economics and democracy is not threatened by absolute dictators. They are supporting the existence and ultimate expansion of a regime...

Siding with Hitchens by Mark Grueter It has become fashionable in some circles to oppose a war in Iraq. In between Washington and Union Squares, one frequently hears somebody chanting, “No War On Iraq” or “No Blood For Oil.” For many, any conflict initiated by the United States is an evil, imperialist enterprise embarked upon solely to further the narrow, myopic interests of big business and greedy politicians. Thus, one has the benefit of not having to think when deciding whether or not to support war. These people, pacifists or otherwise, enjoy gathering together at demonstrations, one of which I...

<p>House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer yesterday announced his support for a war to disarm Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, saying that the United States must act if the United Nations won't.</p> <p>"The United States and the nations of the world that are prepared to defend freedom must not be frozen into inaction by the international community's inability to marshal anything more than mere words," Mr. Hoyer said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.</p>

<p>By Elie Wiesel, Elie Wiesel, the Nobel Peace laureate, is a Holocaust survivor and author of 40 books.</p> <p>Under normal circumstances, I might have joined those peace marchers who, here and abroad, staged public demonstrations against an invasion of Iraq. After all, I have seen enough of the brutality, the ugliness, of war to oppose it heart and soul. Isn't war forever cruel, the ultimate form of violence? It inevitably generates not only loss of innocence but endless sorrow and mourning. How could one not reject it as an option?</p>

"Peace" Marchers Out of StepBy Christopher HitchensMirror.co.uk | February 20, 2003 I HAD hoped that it would pour with rain during last Saturday's march for "peace."Why? Exactly a week earlier in northern Iraq, a brave minister of the autonomous Kurdish government was foully done to death by a bunch of bin Laden clones calling themselves Ansar al-Islam.Shawkat Mushir was lured under a flag of truce into a dirty ambush, in which he and several innocent bystanders - including an eight-year-old girl - were murdered.There is already war in this part of Iraq, and on one side stands an elected Kurdish...

The real battle in the security council is about a new world order The division between leading members of the United Nations represents a conflict not over the threat posed by Saddam Hussein but the underlying goals for the world order. That is not evident in the immediate differences within the security council. The US and UK believe the international community has finally come to the point of reckoning. The removal of the Iraqi regime's undisputed weapons of mass destruction can no longer be ducked. The stance of France, Germany and Russia is that removal is desirable but not critical....

Explaining Iraq to Liberals: A Short Story The Smith family has purchased a new home in a very rural subburb several miles outside of the nearest town. After residing there for several months, Mr Smith see's his nearby neighbor in his front yard, as Mr Smith is mowing his lawn, minding his own business. Mr Smith waves hello to the neighbor whom he later finds out is a Mr Jones. Mr Jones comes across the road with several of his friend and begin pushing Mr Smith around and eventually beat him up. They go into his house and one of...

This past weekend, millions turned out in cities worldwide for antiwar protests – the largest since the Vietnam war – by groups opposed to US military action against Iraq. Tens of thousands in the United States recently braved frigid east coast weather and almost half-a-million people marched through Florence and Paris in what was promoted as one in a series in many Europe-wide anti-war rallies. Many of my fellow Democrats have been gushing about the hordes that have taken to the streets, basking in nostalgia about the street demonstrations over Vietnam that were a factor in changing government policy in...

The United States is pouring huge numbers of men, tanks, warplanes and naval vessels into Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf. As the implications of the showdown emerge, Americans are asking themselves whether the stakes in this confrontation are worth the risks we are taking." With those words, this editorial page opened its argument for war with Iraq--three weeks after the rape of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's invaders in August of 1990. The subsequent Persian Gulf War came and went in 1991. To no sane observer's pleasure, Hussein has gamely survived, and today still wields his dark power. That war...

Liberals and other anti-war folks need to find some reasons to attack Iraq...I think we will soon be at war and I worry that they will be left out in the cold, so to speak. Why they are not satisfied with our reasons for war Im not exactly sure (the prevention of world annihilation alone seems pretty good to me) but after a bit of research I have uncovered some reasons for war with which they can be happy .... 1. Saddam Hussein is really a white guy from Alabama in disguise. 2. The Iraqis are anti gun control. 3....

... The following statement by Shaykh Prof. Palazzi supports my disappointment with the Muslims in this country, which I have often expressed, on these forums and in public, in no uncertain terms: "Muslims should be in the forefront of efforts to refute the "Islamists" and to counter their abuse of Islam. Unfortunately, either from fear or for other reasons, Muslims are doing virtually nothing to distinguish authentic Islam from the counterfeit image presented by the "Islamists". Their silence, in this country of the land and the free, leads one to question whose side they are on? When the lefties excuse...

Exclusive: The Prime Minister answers questions from 'Independent on Sunday' readers over his beliefs and motives Tony Blair has told critics that his Christian conscience is clear about the terrible death toll which could follow a military strike against Iraq.In a unique dialogue with Independent on Sunday readers, the Prime Minister declared: "I would never go into war if I thought it was morally wrong." Mr Blair has responded in detail to the many concerns raised by our readers over the past weeks.His answers were composed at 30,000 feet as he flew back from talks with the Spanish Prime Minister,...

The second Gulf war has yet to begin but already I’ve taken more than my share of collateral damage. And all because I belong to that alleged minority which believes that taking out a tyrannical mass-murderer armed to the teeth with chemical and biological weapons isn’t a bad idea. Because I’m a yoga-loving rock writer, people assume I ought to be a peacenik. Now I am on virtual no-speakers with friends and family whose political kinship I had taken for granted. About two months ago I was browsing my e-mails when up popped one from my old chum Crispin, who...

"I HAVE BEEN a faithful reader of The Washington Post for almost 10 years," a recent e-mail to this page begins. "Recently, however, I have grown tired of your bias and endless drumbeating for war in Iraq." He's not the only one. The national and international debate over Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, and our editorials in favor of disarming the dictator, have prompted a torrent of letters, many approving and many critical. They are for the most part thoughtful and serious; the antiwar letters in particular are often angry and anguished as well. "It is truly depressing to...

The Liberal Case for WarBy Peter BeinartFrontPageMagazine.com | February 28, 2003 "Last time, this nation entered a war to make the world safe for democracy and establish permanent peace; it was betrayed in the event because its aims were not embodied in the peace settlement. Do we now risk such a betrayal again?" Looking back to World War I, this journal asked that question on August 25, 1941, in an editorial called "For a Declaration of War." And that is the question again today.Today's war debate also occurs against the backdrop of a past betrayal. The first Bush administration rallied...